Ministers have urged a family facing a devastating bill as part of the building safety crisis to contact the Samaritans if they want help with “feelings of distress or despair”. In a move that sparked “disbelief” in the leaseholder involved, Jamie Robb, the response from an aide to the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, to a plea for help with fire remediation works included the phone number for the suicide prevention service. It recommended its “free, anonymous, confidential and non-judgemental support”. The Robb family wrote to Jenrick in November last year after Jamie Robb, 30, discovered he was facing a bill of up to £40,000 for fire safety repairs on his apartment in a Manchester high-rise. The response arrived this week as the government pushed through fire safety legislation that leaves thousands of leaseholders facing bills of up to £75,000 each to fix apartment buildings found to be dangerous in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. An unnamed official replied: “The government is aware of the effect that ongoing building safety concerns may have on the mental health of residents … If you feel able to, you can discuss any difficulties with your GP who will be able to signpost you to suitable healthcare services, if appropriate. You can also access support from the Samaritans by calling freephone 116 123”. The letter reiterated the government’s position that building owners should “protect leaseholders where they can” and that government loans will be available to works not covered by £5bn in grants already announced. But MPs have estimated leaseholders such as Robb could face a further £10bn in costs. “To acknowledge the despair and distress and offer nothing new as a government and then to transfer you to a service that a lot of people think of as a last resort is pretty disgusting,” said Robb. “If Jenrick’s office is aware of how bad the situation is that they are advising people to speak to the Samaritans then why aren’t they doing anything to intervene?” Rituparna Saha, a co-founder of the UK Cladding Action Group campaign organisation, added: “Robert Jenrick has the power to do something about the mental health trauma and that’s not directing people to suicide prevention but putting up more money to solve the crisis.” The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that while its letter included information about avenues of support for people who feel their mental health has been affected, it conceded it was not appropriate in this instance because it was not clear the correspondent was personally affected in this way. The Robb family had urged Jenrick to make loans available to freeholders or developers “to put right their negligence”. They said: “People are losing their homes, careers in some cases, and their mental health has been seriously affected by living in fear of fire and bankruptcy.” Last year, UK Cladding Action Group found nine out of 10 of 550 residents surveyed said their mental health had deteriorated as a direct result of the discovery of fire safety problems at their building. Nearly a quarter reported suicidal feelings or considered self-harm. Robb said he had suffered significant “stress and anxiety at the prospect of possible bankruptcy”. “The anger at government for protecting the developers who knowingly failed to build to safety-critical standards is also hard to shake,” he said. “I’ve been effectively in limbo for the past six months while I wait for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to decide my fate.” Attempts to protect leaseholders from the cost of fixing fire safety problems failed in parliament this week, leaving campaigners for leaseholders still threatened with huge bills to regroup. They plan to again lobby the government to extend a taxpayer bailout already offered to homeowners with dangerous cladding in buildings over 18 metres tall to leaseholders.